NEOCONS

"WE'VE BEEN NEO-CONNED" by Ron Paul www.LewRockwell.com

[The linked article above by Ron Paul is erudite and very lengthy, exposing how our liberty has been taken by ever increasing government, war and intrusion into our private lives. This article is very comprehensive, explaining the roots of neo-conservatism, and in many cases naming names of those who have cultivated and nurtured this philosophy and in some cases how some our leaders have been duped by them. To redact this article, would not be a just treatment, since many of the author's claims and contentions would be removed, therefore the article will be presented in it's entirety, but in several parts.]

"The modern-day, limited-government movement has been co-opted. The conservatives have failed in their effort to shrink the size of government. There has not been, nor will there soon be, a conservative revolution in Washington. Political party control of the federal government has changed, but the inexorable growth in the size and scope of government has continued unabated. The liberal arguments for limited government in personal affairs and foreign military adventurism were never seriously considered as part of this revolution.

Since the change of the political party in charge has not made a difference, who’s really in charge? If the particular party in power makes little difference, whose policy is it that permits expanded government programs, increased spending, huge deficits, nation building and the pervasive invasion of our privacy, with fewer Fourth Amendment protections than ever before?

Someone is responsible, and it’s important that those of us who love liberty, and resent big-brother government, identify the philosophic supporters who have the most to say about the direction our country is going. If they’re wrong – and I believe they are – we need to show it, alert the American people, and offer a more positive approach to government. However, this depends on whether the American people desire to live in a free society and reject the dangerous notion that we need a strong central government to take care of us from the cradle to the grave. Do the American people really believe it’s the government’s responsibility to make us morally better and economically equal? Do we have a responsibility to police the world, while imposing our vision of good government on everyone else in the world with some form of utopian nation building? If not, and the enemies of liberty are exposed and rejected, then it behooves us to present an alternative philosophy that is morally superior and economically sound and provides a guide to world affairs to enhance peace and commerce.

One thing is certain: conservatives who worked and voted for less government in the Reagan years and welcomed the takeover of the U.S. Congress and the presidency in the 1990s and early 2000s were deceived. Soon they will realize that the goal of limited government has been dashed and that their views no longer matter.

The so-called conservative revolution of the past two decades has given us massive growth in government size, spending and regulations. Deficits are exploding and the national debt is now rising at greater than a half-trillion dollars per year. Taxes do not go down – even if we vote to lower them. They can’t, as long as spending is increased, since all spending must be paid for one way or another. Both Presidents Reagan and the elder George Bush raised taxes directly. With this administration, so far, direct taxes have been reduced – and they certainly should have been – but it means little if spending increases and deficits rise.

When taxes are not raised to accommodate higher spending, the bills must be paid by either borrowing or “printing” new money. This is one reason why we conveniently have a generous Federal Reserve chairman who is willing to accommodate the Congress. With borrowing and inflating, the “tax” is delayed and distributed in a way that makes it difficult for those paying the tax to identify it. For instance, future generations, or those on fixed incomes who suffer from rising prices, and those who lose jobs – they certainly feel the consequences of economic dislocations that this process causes. Government spending is always a “tax” burden on the American people and is never equally or fairly distributed. The poor and low-middle income workers always suffer the most from the deceitful tax of inflation and borrowing.

Many present-day conservatives, who generally argue for less government and supported the Reagan/Gingrich/Bush takeover of the federal government, are now justifiably disillusioned. Although not a monolithic group, they wanted to shrink the size of government.

Early in our history, the advocates of limited, constitutional government recognized two important principles: the rule of law was crucial, and a constitutional government must derive “just powers from the consent of the governed.” It was understood that an explicit transfer of power to government could only occur with power rightfully and naturally endowed to each individual as a God-given right. Therefore, the powers that could be transferred would be limited to the purpose of protecting liberty. Unfortunately, in the last 100 years, the defense of liberty has been fragmented and shared by various groups, with some protecting civil liberties, others economic freedom, and a small diverse group arguing for a foreign policy of nonintervention.

The philosophy of freedom has had a tough go of it, and it was hoped that the renewed interest in limited government of the past two decades would revive an interest in reconstituting the freedom philosophy into something more consistent. Those who worked for the goal of limited government power believed the rhetoric of politicians who promised smaller government. Sometimes it was just plain sloppy thinking on their part, but at other times, they fell victim to a deliberate distortion of a concise limited-government philosophy by politicians who misled many into believing that we would see a rollback on government intrusiveness.

Yes, there was always a remnant who longed for truly limited government and maintained a belief in the rule of law, combined with a deep conviction that free people and a government bound by a Constitution were the most advantageous form of government. They recognized it as the only practical way for prosperity to be spread to the maximum number of people while promoting peace and security.

That remnant – imperfect as it may have been – was heard from in the elections of 1980 and 1994 and then achieved major victories in 2000 and 2002 when professed limited-government proponents took over the administration, the Senate and the House. However, the true believers in limited government are now shunned and laughed at. At the very least, they are ignored – except when they are used by the new leaders of the right, the new conservatives now in charge of the U.S. government.

The remnant’s instincts were correct, and the politicians placated them with talk of free markets, limited government, and a humble, non-nation-building foreign policy. However, little concern for civil liberties was expressed in this recent quest for less government. Yet, for an ultimate victory of achieving freedom, this must change. Interest in personal privacy and choices has generally remained outside the concern of many conservatives – especially with the great harm done by their support of the drug war. Even though some confusion has emerged over our foreign policy since the breakdown of the Soviet empire, it’s been a net benefit in getting some conservatives back on track with a less militaristic, interventionist foreign policy. Unfortunately, after 9-11, the cause of liberty suffered a setback. As a result, millions of Americans voted for the less-than-perfect conservative revolution because they believed in the promises of the politicians.

Now there’s mounting evidence to indicate exactly what happened to the revolution. Government is bigger than ever, and future commitments are overwhelming. Millions will soon become disenchanted with the new status quo delivered to the American people by the advocates of limited government and will find it to be just more of the old status quo. Victories for limited government have turned out to be hollow indeed.

Since the national debt is increasing at a rate greater than a half-trillion dollars per year, the debt limit was recently increased by an astounding $984 billion dollars. Total U.S. government obligations are $43 trillion, while total net worth of U.S. households is just over $40 trillion. The country is broke, but no one in Washington seems to notice or care. The philosophic and political commitment for both guns and butter – and especially for expanding the American empire – must be challenged. This is crucial for our survival.

In spite of the floundering economy, the Congress and the administration continue to take on new commitments in foreign aid, education, farming, medicine, multiple efforts at nation building, and preemptive wars around the world. Already we’re entrenched in Iraq and Afghanistan, with plans to soon add new trophies to our conquest. War talk abounds as to when Syria, Iran and North Korea will be attacked.

How did all this transpire? Why did the government do it? Why haven’t the people objected? How long will it go on before something is done? Does anyone care?

Will the euphoria of grand military victories – against non-enemies – ever be mellowed? Someday, we as a legislative body must face the reality of the dire situation in which we have allowed ourselves to become enmeshed. Hopefully, it will be soon!

We got here because ideas do have consequences. Bad ideas have bad consequences, and even the best of intentions have unintended consequences. We need to know exactly what the philosophic ideas were that drove us to this point; then, hopefully, reject them and decide on another set of intellectual parameters." [To be continued]

With Love and Kindness,

THE HATMAN

UNEMPLOYMENT

We all know that an ailing economy is at the root of the jobs problem. Fix the economy and there will be jobs, maybe not the same ones, but maybe new occupations and careers. Is the answer then more education? No,

as it is, our BS, MS and PHD graduates are happy to have any job, however menial.

Still there is work to be done, but businesses are reluctant to hire. They simply cannot afford to add to their payrolls and are in fact shrinking their

employed numbers or resorting to part time help. What are the true numbers of unemployed. Probably have to go to John Williams "Shadow Stats" to get a real number without the government sanitizing the numbers.

But for purposes of this article, the rate is above 17%; for black men it is

25%; for youth it is 30%. Certainly the reason for this is the ailing economy and all of it's non-functioning pathology. But for a moment let's look at Mr.

Employer and his burdens:

barriers to employment

*A high minimum wage keeps part of the workforce out of a job, Mr. Employer can only afford a few employees at this mandated rate.

*A high payroll tax robs many of potential work.

*Lawsuits threaten employers who fire workers.

*Unemployment insurance requirement to pay for non-work.

*High cost of business start ups with fees and taxes.

*Withholding taxes that if not paid will allow the IRS to close down the business and sell off the assets.

*Age restrictions that keep everyone under 16 unemployed.

*Social Security, Medicare and Income taxes take up to half of wages.

* Labor unions and closed shops prevent the free market negotiations for jobs and wages.

Yet ask anyone if these laws are unfair unproductive and anti-freedom and you will get angry responses hat these laws and conditions are necessary

for our safety net workplace and in America we don't have slave labor. Such is the indoctrination of socialism in America's people, and their political IQ.

With Love and Kindness,

THE HATMAN

NEW JOBS GROWTH

Many who have been terminated will not ever return to their former job. The job is gone and for many, even the business that provided the job is closed and no longer exists.

Since our population is not shrinking, even though it is greying, where will the jobs come from to provide for our needs. We have enough lawyers, maids, sales reps, stock brokers, insurance agents, relators and bankers. These occupations just distribute the wealth; they don't create it. Created wealth makes jobs.

Wealth is created by tilling and planting the soil, mining and drilling natural resources and manufacturing or building something. Intellectual creations such as software creation, books and articles comes in there someplace as well.

No way does government create wealth or jobs from it. They make jobs, but they are not self -sustaining jobs, because no wealth is created, and they depend on the effort of others to sustain their activities. Government has been very active in creating jobs during this downturn which started in 2001. The military expansion and wars have created hundreds of thousands of jobs, but no wealth save that of arms sold to other countries. Obama and his minions have created about 300,000 new jobs in government positions, yet 7 million jobs have been lost.

Today, there are 22.5 million federal employees.(which doesn't count people employed by state, county and municipal governments) Even with the above expansions and stimulus, joblessness continues to increase if you disregard the faux numbers the Department of Labor puts out. As a job maker, the new New Deal is a total flop.[not exactly what the president claimed in his State of the Union address] At last count 42 of the 50 states were out of money and could not hire new employees.

The Bureau of Labor statistics has predicted that 3 million jobs per year for

the next 7 years will be created. Here is their list of the fastest growing jobs:

• Personal and home care aides
• Home health aides [apparently different from above category]
• Substance abuse and behavioral disorder counselors
• Skin care specialists
• Gaming surveillance officers and gaming investigators
• Mental health counselors
• Mental health and substance abuse social workers
• Gaming and sports book writers and runners
• Manicurists and pedicurists
• Environmental science and protection technicians, including health \
• Alas, they think we are to be a nation of sickly, obese, druggies with beautiful skin and fingernails.

It is nonsense like this which pervades our government that claims to know what is best for us.

With Love and Kindness,

ITHE HATMAN

ASCENDANCY OF THE MASTER CLASS

There is an unceasing, unrelenting campaign of false and misleading information dumped upon the American mind. This assault of Goldilocks and feel good drivel tells us that the worst is over and everything is coming up roses. A lot of this spews forth from the lips of the chairman of the Federal Reserve. Americans now have no idea how critically ill our nation's monetary and economic situation is.

America's net worth (as of September,2009 was $53.4 Trillion. America's debt including unfunded liabilities totaled $120 Trillion. Even if the government confiscated all of the citizens wealth, there would still be a $66.6 Trillion shortfall.

1% of the nations citizens own about 40% of the wealth. (3 million folks own about $21Trillion. 305 million folks own about $32 Trilion. 77 million folks have mean assets of -$2,300 per person, living on welfare or from paycheck to pay check. Obama supporters?--probably.

Now this isn't the rant of a Socialist, but wealth disparity is the mark of a third world country, and a potential for totalitarianism. As the American middle class is being destroyed by debt--individual, corporate and sovereign debt, freedom is vanishing also.

Most, even the most sophisticated financiers can't really comprehend the enormity of the numbers involved albeit the total debt or the projected deficits in our future. Government has but two choices, since they cannot pay off the debt, and are unwilling to reduce expenses: they must default on their debt or inflate it away with hyperinflation.

Can you say 'bond slaves', 'debtors prisons' or 'banana republic' or just bankrupt. Our officials and leaders have sold us into debt slavery. from which few will escape. This has been a result of the Master Class choking America slowly and methodically. Over 20% of workers are unemployed( while the lying federal minions claim only 10% are without jobs), while the large banks are paying millions in bonuses. Their arrogance is in full view of everyone.

The agenda of the Master Class is different from the average American. They are blind and deaf to the rage sweeping the nation. Their ethics of greed, plunder, power, control and violence are alien to mainstream American culture. The Master Class is real, it is here and laying waste to our country. They have destroyed our economy while amassing incredible wealth and power for themselves.

Who are these plunderers? Politicians, Wall Street Elite, the Federal Reserve, High Government Officials, Military and Intelligence Officials, Military suppliers, Lobbyists and Media owners and Managers. Their actions in their own self interest and denying their responsibility to the citizenry have been their measure.

With Love and Kindness,

THE HATMAN

IMAGINING FREEDOM

RE: "The Misesian Vision" by Lewellen H. Rockwell, Jr. www.LewRockwell.com

"It would appear that the more liberty we lose, the less people are able to imagine how liberty might work. It is a fascinating thing to behold.

• People can no longer imagine a world in which we could be secure without massive invasions of our privacy at every step, and even being strip-searched before boarding airplanes, even though private institutions manage much greater security without any invasions of human rights;
• People can no longer remember how a true free market in medical care would work, even though all the problems of the current system were created by government interventions in the first place;
• People imagine that we need 700 military bases around the world, and endless wars in the Middle East, for "security," though safe Switzerland doesn’t;
• People think it is insane to think of life without central banks, even though they are modern inventions that have destroyed currency after currency;
• Even meddlesome agencies like the Consumer Products Safety Commission or the Federal Trade Commission strike most people as absolutely essential, even though it is not they who catch the thieves and frauds, but private institutions;
• The idea of privatizing roads or water supplies sounds outlandish, even though we have a long history of both;
• People even wonder how anyone would be educated in the absence of public schools, as if markets themselves didn't create in America the world's most literate society in the 18th and 19th centuries.

This list could go on and on. But the problem is that the capacity to imagine freedom – the very source of life for civilization and humanity itself – is being eroded in our society and culture. The less freedom we have, the less people are able to imagine what freedom feels like, and therefore the less they are willing to fight for its restoration."[emphasis added]

Mr. Rockwell suggests that those of us, born after 1930 have no first hand experience with freedom, therefore if you have never experienced it, how can you miss it?

Certainly a point well made, however, some of us have known times in America when things were considerably different than now. For the most part government has grown larger and more intrusive gradually and only because of crisis such as the WWII, Cold War, The Great Society, War on Terror. Patriot Act and Obama's "change"have we noticed abrupt losses of freedom.

Today, we have a president and congress who apparently have no concept of freedom or individual rights. We are thought of in government circles as the 'masses', devoid of any individual interests and needs. The collectivist mentality and freedom are mutually exclusive.

According to Rockwell, "Obama said that when he was a young man, he learned important values from his period of community service. It helped form him and shape him. It helped him understand the troubles of others and think outside his own narrow experience.His presumption here is really taken from the playbook of the totalitarian state: the father-leader will guide his children-citizens in the paths of righteousness, so that they all will become god like the leader himself.

. . . To me, this comment illustrates one of two things. It could show that Obama is a potential dictator in the mold of Stalin, Hitler, and Mao, for the presumptions he puts on exhibit here are just as frightening as any imagined by the worst tyrants in human history."

Today, Americans accept these totalitarian ideas and measures willingly, usually without protest because they have been conditioned to believe as the country grows in size or has national"emergencies" it is necessary to have more controls and government funded programs. No wonder people debate the means of a national healthcare plan rather than the need for any national healthcare plan.

Can you still imagine freedom? Can you accept the idea of an America without a centrally driven controller? Can you accept responsibility for your own well being? Do you truly want free market provided services. Does the idea of an absent father figure federal government frighten you?

In America we can choose to be free, right?

With Love and Kindness,

THE HATMAN

WELCOME TO COLLECTIVISM

Americans are uncertain whether government snooping is an invasion of privacy or for the good of the nation.

As long as this doubt remains they will be the willing victim of their 'masters'. Most people believe a fascist state begins at the point of a bayonet--not true; it begins with

misinformation, spin and covert surveillance. Hitler's Germany, Mussolini's Italy, Stalin's Russia and Mao's China all have or had this common characteristic: People watching each other. A police state cannot remain without people censoring each other. By spying on one another they enslave themselves.

There are no federal troops on the street, so clearly we are still free-- not realizing

the tyranny that is building here.

Modern China a perfect example of collectivism is no accident. It was designed and paid for by Western interests as part of their one world concept.

Whatever the price of the Chinese Revolution, it has obviously succeeded not only in producing more efficient and dedicated administration, but also in fostering high morale and community of purpose. The social experiment in China under Chairman Mao’s leadership is one of the most important and successful in human history.

-David Rockefeller, New York Times, August 10, 1973

All over the world, programs are being instituted to acclimate people towards a more collectivist way of thinking. We are being gradually led into believing that the group is more important than the individual; therefore the individual must sacrifice his independence, or even his life, for the good of the whole. This is evident in social programs, political rhetoric, and even television and film.

A collectivist society requires a uniformity of thinking or a common held threat or enemy such as terrorism. Once this thinking has become commonplace through mass media pronouncements, the end is near.

Government surveilance and mandates are easily accepted when they are presented as necessary for national security or other misleading reasons. The Department Of Homeland Security have for years been pushing the U.S. to adopt a national ID card. We are told: they would be just like a driver's license; they wouldn't be mandatory [at first]; they will protect you from identity theft.

The new cards such as as in the United Kingdom and China have a RFID chip, fingerprint data and in the future eye retina data. When passed in front of RFID cameras, the data is read and fed into computers.

Wake up America. Your time as free men is getting shorter

With Love and Kindness,

THE HATMAN

RUSKIES NOT TO BE TRUSTED

A lot of things are clear in hind sight. We had help in starting the WWII conflict with Japan. Russia had always feared the Japanese at their back door. What they needed was a large scale effort to nullify the Japanese threat. Who better than the blooming military might of the USA. The Japanese military, and economic influence in the region since the 1880s with the Japan's humiliating defeat of Russia in 1905 , gave Russia motive to have the Japanese wings clipped and provide opportunity for the spread of communism.

Ref: "The Needless US Pacific War with Japan-- Courtesy of Japan and Roosevelt" by Michael E. Krecca-www.LewRockwell.com

"The US and British ambassadors to Japan, Joseph C. Grew (a Herbert Hoover appointee) and Sir Robert Craigie, respectively both urged FDR to confer with Konoye and to agree to his terms. Grew especially was trying to avoid war with Japan and did everything he could to do so. Grew wrote:

"It seems to me highly unlikely that this chance will come again or that any Japanese statesman other than Prince Konoye could succeed in controlling the military extremists in carrying through a policy which they, in their ignorance of international affairs and economic laws, resent and oppose. The alternative to reaching a settlement now would be the greatly increased probability of war and while we would undoubtedly win in the end, I question whether it is in our own interest to see an impoverished Japan reduced to the position of a third-rate power."

Craigie agreed with Grew, stating tersely in a dispatch to London, "Time suitable for real peace with Japan. Hope this time American cynicism will not be allowed to interfere with realistic statesmanship." Churchill (whose own Foreign Office was riddled with Soviet spies, among them the notorious "Kim" Philby, Donald Maclean and Guy Burgess) was incensed with Craigie's conciliatory stance toward Tokyo. He told Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden:

'He (Craigie) should surely be told forthwith that the entry of the United States into war either with Germany and Italy or with Japan is fully conformable with British interests. Nothing in the munitions sphere can compare with the importance of the British Empire and the United States being co-belligerent.'

Moreover, there were four close Roosevelt advisers who, according to the US Army's 1940–48 communications surveillance of the Soviet Embassy in Washington (a operation commonly known as "Venona"), were Soviet spies or sympathizers. These four spearheaded the ultimately successful attempt to frustrate Grew's and Craigie's negotiating efforts. They were top White House aide and Canadian-born economist Lauchlin Currie, Assistant Treasury Secretary Harry Dexter White (who essentially was Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau Jr.'s puppetmaster), New Deal tax-and-spend fanatic Harry Hopkins and the notorious State Department official Alger Hiss. Hiss had tapped Johns Hopkins University Asia specialist and "adviser" to Chinese Nationalist leader Chiang-Kai-shek, Owen Lattimore, as FDR's "China expert" – one whom Mao Tse-tung's sidekick Chou En-lai warmly regarded as "quite sympathetic to the Chinese Communists.

All of these men, White and Currie especially, actively pressured FDR into waging a war with Japan. They eloquently masked their staunch Soviet sympathies behind facile appeals to the territorial integrity of China under Chiang (a weak, greedy and corrupt leader who was uneasily allied with Mao and would later be overwhelmed by him) and in the interests of a "united front against fascism." FDR thus flatly disregarded the advice of Grew and Craigie and refused any meeting with Konoye." FDR, in love with the liberals of his day, would not have been a hard sell.

On Nov. 18, 1941, Secretary Morgenthau sent to Secretary of State Cordell Hull a long memorandum drafted by Assistant Secretary White describing US terms for peace with Japan. These terms were so severe that White and Currie knew Japan would never accept them. Japanese Foreign Minister Togo Shigenori, one of the most moderate members of the Japanese government, recalled after receiving the Morgenthau-White-Hull memo, "I was utterly disheartened, and felt like one groping in darkness. The uncompromising tone was no more than I had looked for; but I was greatly astonished at the extreme nature of the contents."

An aide to Navy Secretary Frank Knox, Vice Admiral Francis Beatty, revealed in 1954:

"Prior to December 7th, it was evident even to me... that we were pushing Japan into a corner. I believed that it was the desire of both President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill that we get into the war, as they thought the Allies could not win without us and our efforts to cause the Germans to declare war on us failed. The conditions we imposed upon Japan – to get out of China, for example – were so severe that we knew that that nation could not accept them. We were forcing her so severely that we could have known that she would react toward the United States. All her preparations in a military way – and we knew their overall import – pointed that way."

Exactly a week after this memo was issued, FDR's Secretary of War, Henry Stimson, wrote in his diary some two weeks before Pearl Harbor, recalling a cabinet meeting discussing the problems with Japan. He wrote:

'There the President...brought up entirely the relations with the Japanese. He brought up the event that we were likely to be attacked, perhaps [as soon as] next Monday, for the Japanese are notorious for making an attack without warning and the question was what should we do. The question was how we should maneuver them into the position of firing the first shot without allowing too much danger to ourselves.'

On Nov. 18, 1941, Secretary Morgenthau sent to Secretary of State Cordell Hull a long memorandum drafted by Assistant Secretary White describing US terms for peace with Japan. These terms were so severe that White and Currie knew Japan would never accept them. Japanese Foreign Minister Togo Shigenori, one of the most moderate members of the Japanese government, recalled after receiving the Morgenthau-White-Hull memo, "I was utterly disheartened, and felt like one groping in darkness. The uncompromising tone was no more than I had looked for; but I was greatly astonished at the extreme nature of the contents."

An aide to Navy Secretary Frank Knox, Vice Admiral Francis Beatty, revealed in 1954:

"Prior to December 7th, it was evident even to me... that we were pushing Japan into a corner. I believed that it was the desire of both President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill that we get into the war, as they thought the Allies could not win without us and our efforts to cause the Germans to declare war on us failed. The conditions we imposed upon Japan – to get out of China, for example – were so severe that we knew that that nation could not accept them. We were forcing her so severely that we could have known that she would react toward the United States. All her preparations in a military way – and we knew their overall import – pointed that way."

Exactly a week after this memo was issued, FDR's Secretary of War, Henry Stimson, wrote in his diary some two weeks before Pearl Harbor, recalling a cabinet meeting discussing the problems with Japan. He wrote:

'There the President...brought up entirely the relations with the Japanese. He brought up the event that we were likely to be attacked, perhaps [as soon as] next Monday, for the Japanese are notorious for making an attack without warning and the question was what should we do. The question was how we should maneuver them into the position of firing the first shot without allowing too much danger to ourselves.'

Sir Oliver Lylleton, Churchill's war production minister, knew all of Churchill's and FDR's plans and decisions to force the USA into the war. In a June 20, 1944 speech to members of the American Chamber of Commerce in London, he stated:

'America provoked Japan to such an extent that the Japanese were forced to attack Pearl Harbor. It is a travesty on history, even to say that America was forced into the war.'"

With Love and Kindness,

THE HATMAN

FEAR

RE:"Fear Rules" by Paul Craig Roberts--www. Information Clearing House 1/19/10

America is in the grip of FEAR. The citizens have given up their rights of free men

in favor of security and safety. It is certainly understandable considering the fear messages coming out of DC, Fox News, Rush Limbaugh ,Pat Robertson and Pastor

Hagee.

Certainly the cry "to fight them over there so we don't have to fight them here" seems

appropriate until you realize that Iraq doesn't have any stealth bombers and missiles. Afghanistan hardly can put a row boat in the water, let alone a battleship or aircraft carrier. The only way they have to attack us over here is if we permit the use of our

commercial aircraft, or allow penetration of our borders, which leak like a sieve.

If these conflicts are real and not the creation of the collectivists, then why has victory alluded us. Certainly not for lack of men, money and material and nine years of war Question: who benefits from this constant warfare? Is it the military/industrial complex and the bankers from who we get the money?

Quoting Roberts: "Americans are at ease with their country’s aggression against Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan, which has resulted in a million dead Muslim civilians and several million refugees, because the US government has filled Americans with fear of terrorists."

Fearful of American citizens, the US government is building concentration camps apparently all over the country. According to news reports, a $385 million US government contract was given by the Bush/Cheyenne Regime to Cheyennes company, Halliburton, to build “detention centers” in the US. The corporate media never explained for whom the detention centers are intended.

Most Americans dismiss such reports. “It can’t happen here.” However, In northeastern Florida not far from Tallahassee, I have seen what might be one of these camps. There is a building inside a huge open area fenced with razor wire. There is no one there and no signs. The facility appears new and unused and does not look like an abandoned prisoner work camp.

What is it for?

Who spent all that money for what?

There are Americans who are so terrified of their lives being taken by terrorists that they are hoping the US government will use nuclear weapons to destroy “the Muslim enemy.” The justifications concocted for the use of nuclear bombs against Japanese civilian populations have had their effect. There are millions of Americans who wish “their” government would kill everyone that “their” government has demonized.

When I tell these people that they will die of old age without ever seeing a terrorist, they think I am insane. Don’t I know that terrorists are everywhere in America? That’s why we have airport security and homeland security. That’s why the government is justified in breaking the law to spy on citizens without warrants. That’s why the government is justified to torture people in violation of US law and the Geneva Conventions. If we don’t torture them, American cities will go up in mushroom clouds. Dick Cheyenne tells us this every week.

Terrorists are everywhere. “They hate us for our freedom and democracy.” When I tell America’s alarmed citizens that the US has as many stolen elections as any country and that our civil liberties have been eroded by “the war on terror” they lump me into the terrorist category. They automatically conflate factual truth with anti-Americanism.

The US has a much higher percentage of its population in prison than “authoritarian” countries, such as China, a one-party state. An intelligent population might wonder how a “freedom and democracy” country could have incarceration rates far higher than a dictatorship, but Americans fail this test. The more people that are put in prison, the safer Americans feel."

Well stated Mr. Roberts. We know what is happening to us, but seem powerless to do anything about it. In the aftermath of 9/11 the congress quickly passed the infamous Patriot Act taking away basic freedoms we had enjoyed for over 200 years: George W. Bush claimed the mandate to make war anywhere and everywhere they suspected anti American sympathies. Do you feel safer nine years, 1 trillion dollars and countless deaths and casualties later?

With Love and Kindness,

THE HATMAN

HAITI AND USA ARE ALIKE

That sounds like a far out thought until you note that both countries have shifted away from an agrarian base into a pseudo- industrialized society, whereas a small percentage of the population produces food and not too many more produce goods.

The Haitians lived prior to 1960 mostly on small farms or large plantations and

as such were largely self -sufficient. Westerners in a desire to help them

showed them modern ways and started a migration into the towns and cities,

notably Port-au-Prince. They had the information, but not the capital; since they were previously a French colony, wealth had been siphoned off to Europe.

What was needed , reasoned the PTB, was financial aid--some charity, but mostly loans (that couldn't be paid off), hence self perpetuating poverty, crime festering slums and tyrannical dictators.

The recent earthquakes have focused on how easily natural disasters can

cause havoc and epic disruption of civilized life. But with government agencies at the ready can these disruptions be avoided? Our not too recent experience with Katrina should give us the answer. You cannot depend on government to take care of anything except government.

During the Great Depression of the 1930's, A large portion of Americans still lived in rural areas, and had not become dependent on civil utilities, super markets or neighborhood Wal-Marts, thus they were able for the most part to survive the dust bowl and depression.

Our life in America today, however, has become so sophisticated and fragile, an event as simple as a sun based radiation storm could disrupt the whole financial and service system. The recent snow storm in the East resulted in many supermarket shelves being cleaned out. A power outage or even a brown-out can cripple a whole area. We can not produce enough oil, minerals, food,etc domestically to satisfy our national needs. We are dependent on foreign aid in the form of the sale of Treasury Bonds.

In the event of a national disaster including a financial crash, a credit card

won't be of much help. If your bank's doors are closed and the ATM won't work

how will you manage? Prudent people will be prepared to provide for their own security, food and survival needs.

With Love and Kindness,

THE HATMAN

ONE LESS DEMOCRAT

RE:"Feeds the Rich.buries the poor" by James Quinn-www.TheBurningPlatform

Tuesday 1/19/10, a remarkable thing happened; a Republican was elected to the Senate from Massachusetts--"Ted Kennedy's seat" no less. Scott Brown defeated Martha Coakley, the governor appointed Senator to temporarily fill the vacated Kennedy seat until this election. Asked if the election was a referendum on Obama, Brown replied "No, it's bigger than that". " I just focused on the issues,terror, taxes and healthcare plan"

Does this mean Obama's healthcare is doomed? Possibly, but look for the PTB to

rally and find a way to pass legislation that we don't want or need. Because a Republican was elected is no real cause for celebration, remember it was a Republican administration that gave us huge deficits, the Patriot Act, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and torture of prisoners.

The question asked in the referenced article is how long can the people allow their

government to bully and threaten them into conforming to their view of reality.

America is now facing a severe and insidious threat to the freedom and liberty mandate in the founding of the country.

"We need tough hardened individualists who are willing to say enough is enough. Our government has been corrupted by weak men slithering around the halls of Congress soliciting for money, an evil banking cartel creating fiat money, corporate fascists paying off criminals in Washington DC, and the military industrial complex enforcing Washington’s power across the globe. The country longs for an Andrew Jackson or a Dwight Eisenhower. Instead we are stuck with Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi."

"This country achieved greatness because Americans took chances, had the freedom to succeed or fail, picked themselves up when they failed, and lived their lives within a moral framework of fairness and honesty. That flame of independence and freedom is dying out. Americans no longer believe in shared sacrifice, working hard, honoring a sense of civic duty, morality, or modesty. A private banking cartel controls the purse strings and protects its bank owners and its protectors in Congress. The President wages wars across the globe without Constitutional approval from Congress that is required. Agencies of government operate in secret, assassinating foreign enemies, fomenting unrest in other countries, and spying on Americans. Look at the fear we’re feeding. Look at the lives we’re leading."

"We’ve sacrificed freedom for enslavement by fascist corporatism. We’ve sacrificed peace for never ending war. Your government knows everything you are doing. They can monitor your phone calls. They can monitor your emails. They can watch your every move with satellites. They can brand you a terrorist, break down your front door and take you away. All of this can be done in the name of safety. We have allowed this to happen with virtually no debate or dissent from the masses. These choices have led our once great Republic to the edge of the abyss. As we stare into this abyss we have a choice. If we continue on our current path we are destined for a brutish future of totalitarianism, wars, resource depletion, and violent conflicts across the globe."

What is happening to our country is not new, it has happened to other states

throughout history when the populace became comfortable, complacent and relied upon platitudes instead of reality. As before, the citizens were aware of what was happening, but refused to acknowledge the reality of what lie ahead.

They waited until the government marauders came in the night, broke down their doors and hauled them off to prisons and camps. Don't wait too long!

With Love and Kindness,

THE HATMAN

IT'S HAPPENING AGAIN

RE: "Gold:Hyperinflation, Millions, Billions, Trillions. and Then. . . " by John Ing

RE: "Hyperingflation History: La Terrur by John Rubino, Jan. 12, 2010

Ing: "Most investors today are now familiar with the lessons of the Great Depression. But few are so sanguine about the lessons of the 20s and the Weimar Republic's hyperinflation. History is full of examples of countries that failed to pay their debts, opting instead for hyperinflation to pay their bills. Inflation simply reduces the value of debt, hurting creditors and postpone the inevitable adjustment. History also shows that deficit spending and printing money is so addictive and politically expedient that governments rarely manage to reverse the downward spiral.

In the last century there were over 25 episodes of hyperinflation with most occurring in the half century. While many know of the Weimar Republic hyperinflation, few recall the French hyperinflation in the 1800s, nor of China's from 1935 to 1949. Ukraine faced hyperinflation in 1994.

While France's fiat money inflation lasted for nearly ten years, it required another 40 years to bring about a full recovery. Napoleon Bonaparte took over the bankrupt government and its immense debt. At his first cabinet meeting, Napoleon declared that he would be pay cash or pay nothing. In 1797, Napoleon wrote , "While I live I will never resort to redeemable paper". He never did, and Bonaparte confiscated all the gold and France was forced to live within its means.

Rubino, French hyperinflation:"The tale begins [circa1790] with the newly-formed National Assembly wresting power from the French monarchy. Inheriting a financial mess, and worried about invasion from ticked-off neighboring monarchies, it responds as governments tend to do, with a military buildup and massive public spending on bread and buildings. To pay its bills, the Assembly expropriates the lands and estates of the French church and tries to monetize them. But…"

The Assembly realized the sale of Church lands would not provide enough funds to cover their needs.

The Assembly authorized printing of 400 million livres of assignats [notes bearing 3%interest], believing the notes would pay the state's creditors, allow citizens to purchase properties and stimulate industry and commerce. Warnings from the conservative members that the new currency would depreciate existing currency and would soon would require new issuances were brushed aside in the rush to prosperity.

True to form the new assignats depreciated the value of the money, 5%, then later 7% against the benchmark gold.

When several months later the government was again short of funds, they authorized 800 million more livres of assignats. This time they reduced the interest payments and made the paper legal tender for all debts and purchases.

The result:depreciation of existing money, rising prices, feverish speculation, inordinate consumption and declining saving.

Fourteen months following the original issue, they issued 600 million more and 6 months later an additional 300 million more at the end of that year the market value had fallen 66%. One year later they issued 600 million more and 4 months later they confiscated the estates of those who had led France.

1793 was the year of La Terrur. Having failed to create Utopia, they began terrorizing the populace into accepting the assignat at par and producing and selling at a loss to be patriotic. They created the Committee of Public Safety [a euphemism not unlike the names our government prefers] which engaged in terror, expropriation and murder.

They passed price controls on grain and laws prohibiting the sale or trade of assignats for less than face value, a progressive income tax and repudiated the interest payments on the assignats. Buying, selling or trading specie of gold and silver was prohibited, price controls were extended to cover food, wood and coal.

1200 million more in assignats were issued in 1793; 3000 million in 1794. 1975 brought 33,000 million more. When the new government came in the Fall of 1795, the purchasing power of the assignats was almost nothing. 600 francs of assignats traded for 1 gold franc.

The new assembly still inflated, issuing a new assignat worth 30 old assignat, depreciating the value down to 3%.

Enter ' hard money' Napoleon who said " I will pay cash for everything", hence the end of French hyperinflation and LaTerreur.

This same story keeps repeating through history as if man cannot learn. It is repeating today in America with our fractional reserve banking and deficit spending. Is it too late to stop it? Probably. History shows that things have to terribly bad before change can come.

With Love and Kindness,

THE HATMAN

DOLLAR COLLAPSE

RE: Hyperinflation History: La Terreur by John Rubino -www.Dollar Collapse.com

With the enormous debt of the U.S.A. and the ever increasing deficits, is a collapse of the currency inevitable? Collapse, what does that mean, against what?

If the dollar is inflated, what of it, aren't all the world's currencies being inflated; so in comparison what has changed?

The deal is that the dollar is useful to buy things with--people see it as a measure of value. So if it takes more and more dollars to buy things, eventually it will take a wheelbarrow full to buy a loaf of bread. What does that do to peoples savings, --they become worthless if they are in the form of dollars.

Money of all the commodities is the most useful and relied upon to make things work. It is what we all work for, guard, value and prize. Without money there can only be barter and we lose the efficiencies brought by the division of labor--each man would have to grow his own food, provide his own water, power etc.

When a currency like the dollar becomes weakened by ceaseless 'printing' more of it, it becomes weaker and weaker to the point that no one values it any more, and does not want to hold it as a store of wealth or accept it in trade.

Inflation of currency is a counterfeiting trick resorted to by governments throughout history. For awhile it seems like instant riches, then the chickens come home to roost and all the paper money proves to be next to worthless.

Rubino is quoted here: "Historically — and there’s a lot of history on which to draw — when a country’s currency is trashed, so is its national character. The relationships between work, savings, debt and more generally honesty and fair play, are all perverted when money ceases to function as a store of value."

"Governments, meanwhile, can only do their thing if they can pay for it, and as the value of their monetary reserves and tax revenue falls, they go absolutely crazy. Frequently, hyperinflation equals dictatorship."

There has never been a time before now, less you consider- post WWI Europe, or maybe the Roman empire, when the whole world was awash with paper [fiat] currency(I owe You nothings). Before there was a least one nation who had remained solvent, and therefore it's currency was used as a 'reserve' currency, and easily exchanged for gold and silver.

Our constitution specifies the coining of gold and silver to be used as money, thus safeguarding us from deliberate currency debauchery. Our founding fathers wanted to spare us the agonies of currency boom and bust, yet since 1913, when the Federal Reserve Act was passed, we have gradually gotten away from any pretense of gold backing and have steadily inflated our money.

There is a price to pay. We have already seen the whipsaw effect of changes in the money supply- inflation/deflation cycles. Now, however we are beyond that and on a roller coaster ride of hyperinflation, from which there is no return except destruction of our economy.

With Love and Kindness,

THE HATMAN

ANDREW JACKSON KILLED A BANK

ANDREW JACKSON KILLED A BANK

"Old Hickory", President Andrew Jackson, a people's president didn't like the idea of a national bank, the first U.S.bank started in 1791 to help pay for the revolutionary war( thanks to Alexander Hamilton) by printing money. Congress closed it in 1811, but the 2nd U.S. Bank the President closed , since he was intent upon restoring a constitutional monetary system. Some of his remarks are redacted below.

". . It was not easy for men engaged in the ordinary pursuits of business, whose attention had not been particularly drawn to the subject, to foresee all the consequences of a currency exclusively of paper, and we ought not on that account to be surprised at the facility with which laws were obtained to carry into effect the paper system. Honest and even enlightened men are sometimes misled by the specious and plausible statements of the designing. But experience has now proved the mischiefs and dangers of a paper currency,. . ."

The Constitution of the United States unquestionably intended to secure to the people a circulating medium of gold and silver. But the establishment of a national bank by Congress, with the privilege of issuing paper money receivable in the payment of the public dues, and the unfortunate course of legislation in the several States upon the same subject, drove from general circulation the constitutional currency and substituted one of paper in its place.

The paper system being founded on public confidence and having of itself no intrinsic value, it is liable to great and sudden fluctuations, thereby rendering property insecure and the wages of labor unsteady and uncertain. The corporations which create the paper money cannot be relied upon to keep the circulating medium uniform in amount. In times of prosperity, when confidence is high, they are tempted by the prospect of gain or by the influence of those who hope to profit by it to extend their issues of paper beyond the bounds of discretion and the reasonable demands of business; and when these issues have been pushed on from day to day, until public confidence is at length shaken, then a reaction takes place, and they immediately withdraw the credits they have given, suddenly curtail their issues, and produce an unexpected and ruinous contraction of the circulating medium, which is felt by the whole community. The banks by this means save themselves, and the mischievous consequences of their imprudence or cupidity are visited upon the public.

Nor does the evil stop here. These ebbs and flows in the currency and these indiscreet extensions of credit naturally engender a spirit of speculation injurious to the habits and character of the people. We have already seen its effects in the wild spirit of speculation in the public lands and various kinds of stock which within the last year or two seized upon such a multitude of our citizens and threatened to pervade all classes of society and to withdraw their attention from the sober pursuits of honest industry. It is not by encouraging this spirit that we shall best preserve public virtue and promote the true interests of our country; but if your currency continues as exclusively paper as it now is, it will foster this eager desire to amass wealth without labor; it will multiply the number of dependents on bank favor and the temptation to obtain money at any sacrifice will become stronger and stronger, and inevitably lead to corruption, which will find its way into your public councils and destroy at no distant day the purity of your Government. Some of the evils which arise from this system of paper press with peculiar hardship upon the class of society least able to bear it.

. . It is the duty of every government so to regulate its currency as to protect this numerous class, as far as practicable, from the impositions of avarice and fraud. It is more especially the duty of the United States, where the Government is emphatically the Government of the people, and where this respectable portion of our citizens are so proudly distinguished from the laboring classes of all other nations by their independent spirit, their love of liberty, their intelligence, and their high tone of moral character. Their industry in peace is the source of our wealth and their bravery in war has covered us with glory; and the Government of the United States will but ill discharge its duties if it leaves them a prey to such dishonest impositions. "

Clearly,his words are prophetic for our time. We find ourselves in a pickle with our central bank ( Federal Reserve ), and The huge Wall Street banks in control of our fortune and our future. As President Jackson stated: "Honest and even enlightened men are sometimes misled by the specious and plausible statements of the designing (founders of the federal reserve).

From thence came the fiat money that Jackson knew was trouble ahead. Because paper currency without gold and silver has been tried time and time again, always resulting in debauching the currency and disaster for the citizens caught in it's ugly web, and typically disaster for the state which has adopted it. Yes governments like it because they can always spend more than their revenues, by printing more, then more currency, or in our era, more digits on their secret computerized bookkeeping records.

Thank you President Jackson, sorry we could adhere to your wisdom.

With Love and Kindness,

THE HATMAN

TRUTH UNCOVERED

RE:"Obama's Alternate Universe" by Scott Ritter, www.Truthdigcom, 1/8/10

Leave it to Scott Ritter to uncover the truth for us. This ones been there all the time, but without all the spin and misdirection and eloquency coming from the DC gang and their fellow travelers at ABC. CBS, NBC, CNN, and the Christian Right, we haven't seen through all of the smoke. But nobody pays attention to what Scott Ritter,

former Marine intelligence officer and Iraq weapons inspector says.

Entering into the seventh and ninth years respectively Iraq and Afghanistan engagements [wars] " have consumed America's attention, treasure and blood without producing anything resembling a tangible victory.

"What exactly constitutes the “war on terror” has never been adequately defined and, as a result, the United States has been, and continues to be, militarily involved in other regions as well, including Somalia, Kenya, the Philippines and, increasingly, Yemen. The American people today are fatigued, and while their political leadership promises to lead the nation out of the long, dark tunnel of conflict, there continues to be no light emerging in the distance, only the ever-darkening shadows of wars without end or purpose."

The truth is we don't have any way to resolve these conflicts that gives the American people a sense of victory. But why do we get into these irreconcilable messes?

Regardless of what rhetoric the Powers That Be chooses to hide behind, the underlying characteristic that continues to define America’s Mideast policy is regime change. It is not the policy that is subject to debate in Washington, D.C.,but the method. Whether it be CIA assignations, death squads, incitement to riot or military support and/or intervention, we are busy all over the world trying to place and replace leadership.

Are we trying to place the nice leaders and displace the bad? That doesn't even get considered. What the criteria is is whether they will accept our bribes[foreign aid] and do our bidding or oppose us.

The drum beat for attacking Iran results not so much as their anti-America posture, but as a consequence of our presence in Iraq and Afghanistan plus political pressures at home from the sympathetic to Israel factions. Still and yet the theme behind our foreign policy is regime change and we would like to do it in Iran as well as elsewhere.

With Love and Kindness,

THE HATMAN

A NEW ICE AGE

REF: "Earth on the Verge of a New Ice Age" by Gregory F. Fegal. www. Lew Rockwell.com 1/14/09

That the planet earth is entering a new cold cycle should not be such a startling bit of information, for after all these cycles have been around for a very long time . We, the earth, that is, has been in a Halocene period of warmth for the past 12,000 years, and

now it is time for things to get colder. Real cold; in fact a new ice age expected to last for 100,000 years.

How do they know this? Mostly from core samples taken from the ocean floor, which revealed an alternating climate of 100,000 years of cold (ice age) interrupted by periods of 12,000 warm years. There are several explanations, all relating to the earth's changes in shape and orbit. More specific information is contained in the referenced article.

But what about burning of fossil fuels? Doesn't this change everything? Isn't modern man destroying his world with carbon emissions? Probably not , at least from the perspective of several hundred thousand years. The "global warming" scam was based upon questionable data and interpretation taken over far too short of a period of time. Objective scientists, my foot.

What does have merit in this discussion is the preponderance or lack thereof of sun spots or explosions and eruptions on the surface of the Sun. Tracking these has led

to the correlation between the lack of sun spots to the ice age and/or periods of much colder climate.

Observations in the last few years have shown a dramatic reduction in the solar surface activity; thus suggesting strongly that we, the earth's inhabitants are in for

a real chilly time. But what is worse, our food supplies are threatened with this

phenomenon. On top of the crazy weather in 2009, we can expect shortages running to the severe in the near future.

With Love and Kindness,

THE HATMAN